Voting is up! 

Voting topic 1
Voting topic 2

14 levels have made it to this second phase. Here we will try and reduce this number to 4 or slightly above that due to possible ties.

The levels have been divided into 2 groups of 7 levels semi-randomly.

Each group will be voted on one at a time, with the goal being that 2 levels from each group advancing to Phase 3. This number can increase in the case of ties. I plan no tiebreakers for this!


If you want to see the full list of nominated levels in non-randomized order, check the nominations list topic.
If you want to play these levels without having to dig up all the various level packs, check the playing phase topic which has a pack available for download that contains all the nominated levels.

Please remember that discussing the nominated levels is not allowed in the LOTY2024 topics now that voting has begun. This does not apply to levels that have already been eliminated at the time. Discussing them elsewhere in the site is okay, as long as it's not in the context of LOTY2024.

The voting will be done in 2 of the 3 new voting topics:

Voting topic 1
Voting topic 2

So it's basically a saturation arithmetic except that the upper and lower limits are determined dynamically from the list itself.

I think it's pretty common in video games. In Slay the Spire(which I enjoyed a lot this spring ), your strength and dexterity can't exceed 999 so no matter how many buffs overlaps you get your strength and dexterity are clamped down to 999. Similary you can't have less than 1 max hp so no matter how many debuffs overlaps you can never die by losing max hp.

I've been having busy days, I just bought my first house so my partner and I have been renovating it.
but I think I can finally start making some levels for the pack

Welcome Velixi! glad to collaborate with you!

14 levels made it to the 2nd phase!

I will prepare the next one and prbably start it during the next days. 

Saturated Addition

Here's some small talk from board game night this weekend. Consider the following mathematical operation, which I'll call a saturated sum, or saturated addition.

• Input: A finite list (x₁, x₂, ...) of real numbers. It's okay if the list is empty. Order doesn't matter, but the list is not a set nonetheless: We allow multiple copies of the same number in the list, and it makes a difference.
  
• Output: A real number.
  
• Steps:
  
  • If the list is empty, return 0. Otherwise, continue with the next step.
    
  • Compute the sum s of the list, i.e., compute s = x₁ + x₂ + ...
    
  • Find the maximum max(x₁, x₂, ...). If the sum s is bigger than this maximum, return this maximum. Otherwise, continue with the next step.
    
  • Find the minimum min(x₁, x₂, ...). If the sum s is smaller than this minimum, return this minimum. Otherwise, return s.
    

Very nice. Examples:

• The saturated sum of (3, 4, 5) is 5.
  
• The saturated sum of (20, −1, −2, −3) is 14.
  
• The saturated sum of the empty list is 0.
  
• For x fixed, the saturated sum of the nonempty list (x, x, x, ...) is x.
  

Questions:

• How common is saturated addition? E.g., I would like to use this in Lix to add the speed of overlapping flingers/batters. Where else does this appear?
  
• We made up the name "saturated addition". Does it have a more canonical name?
  
• In higher dimensions, is component-wise saturated addition base-invariant? No, see below.
  

---

We can lift saturated addition: Lists(ℝ) → ℝ to a multi-dimensional saturated addition Lists(ℝ^d) → ℝ^d. Conduct saturated addition component-wise, i.e., in each of the d dimensions, conduct saturated addition separately. You'll get a point in ℝ^d as final output of the d one-dimensional saturated additions.

This depends on the choice of base of ℝ^d.

Proof: Consider the two-entry list ((1, 0), (0, 1)) of points in ℝ². The component-wise saturated addition yields (1, 1).

Now we recompute that in a rotated base. First, rotate both list entries counter-clockwise by an eigth. We get the list ((1/√2, 1/√2), (−1/√2, 1/√2)) of rotated points. The component-wise saturated sum is now (0, 1/√2). When we rotate (0, 1/√2) back clockwise by an eigth, it becomes (1/2, 1/2), which fails to match the earlier result (1, 1). End of proof.

Lix physics are on a two-dimensional space, but there is a clear choice of base: the gravity axis and the horizontal axis. It's natural in Lix to depend on this base and not worry about it.

-- Simon

Well, guess we'll be upgrading to 2.1.6 then.

Hmm, just like that, SMF 2.1.6 was released yesterday, a few days after 2.1.5 was released. It's a minor hotfix for 2.1.5 according to the changelog.

Completely unrelated to this, but Firefox released two very quick versions too in the last few days, with the latest version released just today.

Greetings, all! I would like to announce with excitement that Velixi is now working with us to make some levels for the pack. Her talent is greatly admired! Welcome aboard, Velixi! We aren't rushing the level pack as we work hard to make changes to basically everything to fully customize the level pack in NeoLemmix to the maximum. (Skill panel graphics, menu screens, etc.)

Meanwhile, I haven't heard from Armani lately, and I do hope he's doing well. The current status of the level pack is at 16/60 levels, as shown on the topic subject. Things are pushing forward. The progress counter will always be updated when I can get a chance to do that. Take care, all of you!